, 1887-07-30

flnnfiaNed from ANis No. 56l.

Well now, to go a little more into QelHll
as to what is done In this factory. In the
arsf place the canes are all grown oy the
neighbouring peasantry, and perhaps the
the financial results Of diffusion may be
found in. the fact that Mr.. Minchin is able
TO pay three dollars and thirteen cents
l$3.131 per ton for his canes, though their
inice only stands at barely 81 Beaume.
Yet he is one of the few sugar manufacturers
not complaining of the present depression
of the times. The canes are brought to
the factory; door in bullock carts, bound
into bundles OF, say, about % lbs. each.
which bundles are stacked end on in sheds
I'm mediately contiguous to the cutters.
About eight coolies are constantly employ
ed taking these bundles on their heads
and putting them on a platform seven or
eight feet high, on which stands the me
chanic who feeds the ~slicers. This man
takes q knife, cuts the trash band binding
the bundle together, and gathering a small
armful Of canes, puts them into the hopper,
down which they appear to be drawn by
the rotary motion of the knives. NO
pressure was needed on the part of the
man feeding. These vertical cutters give
none Of the trouble we experienced with
our horizontal cutters at NOnp0relI. In
connection with these machines Mr.. Kohl
mann's advice was something as fol-
lows:-" Mind, you keep your knives
sharp ; you must have a mechanic for this
work, and he may Just as we'll be employ.
ed in doing his work as in eating lice.
The very instant therefore that the slices
begin to shew the least sign Of being torn
or Jagged instead Of being clearly sliced,
the machine must be stopped, the knives
taken ont TO be ShaIpened, and the spare
cutter set to work" Another great point
is that the slices should be as thin as pos
sible. Mr.. Minchin aims at having his one
millemeter, say 32ud of an inch i'll thick
ness as p matter of fact they as q rule
more nearly approach to two
thar TO one, but the latter was the ideal
desired. These slices fall on an endless
band which runs in front Of all the mach
ines, and discharges on to another slOping
carrier by which the slices are carried up
10 the floor above and discharged iuto a
large wooden hopper. From this hopper
they fall into q wooden truck which stands
on q weighing machine and contains just
One-half of the ordinary charge of q difu'
ser cell. AZ the diffusers hold 1925 lbs,
each Wagon was loaded with chips OF
half that weight, and was then slid along
q little wooden tramway and its contents
shot into the difuser that was being filled.
The moment this was done two coolies
Jun DCU ttOO Tic OlnUScA anu lLNcoON tHS
ships down with their feet. Two or three
MINUTES afterwards II second truck load
arrived and was dealt with in q similar
manner. The diffuser was then screwed
up and instantly attached to the battery.
of the twelve cells only about nine we're
as q rule kept at work and a cell was
filled and difused and emptied on an aver
age every eight minutes Throughout the
week. Mr.. MiIlchin gave me % very interest.
ing account of how very different his
results were when he first started diffusion
twenty years ago. 1t appears that the
Aska works were in those days in a rather
bad way, and Mr.. Miuchin took advantage
Of sick leave to visit Europe and endeavour
to gain information of any suitable appli-
snces for improving the financial conditioQ
Of the WORKS, of which he was then mana.
ger. HetravelSed Germany and France
without seeing anything which he thought
he could adapt TO his own factory ; but in
Austria he came across Mr.. Julius Robert.
who had just invented diffusion and was
struggling to collvince the heetroot manu-
facturers of its suitability to their needs.
We all know that it has since then proved
itself to he the saviour Of beet, and Mr..
Mincllin firmly believes that it is destined
to be the Saviour of the cane also. So
struck was he with what he saw in Austria
that he went back to London, got the sane.
ton OF the consignees there, aud instantly